Tell me what to do, please!

Thursday

Had an epiphany today. After spending most of my life thinking I was a Tony Soprano-type Alpha person with authority problems, I realized I actually respond very well to being told what to do.

In a gym setting, anyway. We won't even discuss career or marriage.

All it takes to psych me up to tackle a fitness challenge is someone I trust saying, "This is what I think you should do." My trainer hardly ever does that. But when he did it this morning, when he laid out a specific daily warm-up routine that he feels could help me improve certain skills I'm struggling with, it was like "Eye of the Tiger" started playing in my head. Boom. Game on. You can bet I'm going to do that warm-up every single day, without fail.

So weird.

I really did think I could formulate my own plan of attack and go ahead and execute it. And I did just fine in building myself a foundation. I got myself in pretty decent cardiovascular shape. But to get beyond that, to get stronger and faster and tackle my "goats," or what CrossFitters call weaknesses, I now know I need guidance. I need direction. I crave it, really.

Whew! That's a difficult thing to admit.

Forget Tony Soprano. I'm that girl in the "Seinfeld" episode who's completely lost without a mentor. You remember her, right? Her original mentor is dating Kenny Banya, and after that relationship sours, she turns to George Costanza and his risk management textbook?

I hope I'm not that messed up in the head. But I'm not ashamed to admit I like being mentored. I like the idea of someone caring enough to identify my issues and troubleshoot them in clear, specific terms.

It's one thing to say, "Here's a stretch you can do." Or, "Here's how to do a pullup." It's another to say, "I want you to do this stretch for 10 minutes every morning." Or, "I want you to jump up on the bar every time you walk in the gym and bang out 15 pullups." Both are important, but the latter is more powerful than I ever realized before.

I want to pause for a second and give thanks to my long-distance CrossFit mentor, Jarrod, who has been a really positive influence in my fitness journey, despite the fact we've never met in person. If you need a little bit of coaching or an infusion of enthusiasm or just want to learn some wacky Southern sayings (suck-start a shotgun? Speed kills Peaches?), read his blog.

And to all the coaches out there, you might not like the idea of having to hold people's hands and spell out every little thing you want them to do. I get that. You want them to be self-motivated self-starters. I definitely get that. But if the person truly has a fire inside and she's just a bit...um, shall we say, neurotic...and confused about what path to take to reach her goals, a very simple, short blueprint can kick that determined beast inside her into action.

Even if the pupil acts like she doesn't need or want the direction, even if she tends to make sarcastic remarks and throw Soprano-esque dirty looks around the gym, it might be just what she needs to flourish.

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